Safeguarding the Glory of Christ

I’ve been quoting recently from 18 Words: The Most Important Words You Will Ever Know by J. I. Packer. In the chapter on faith, he gives two reasons why “our evangelical ancestors insisted so strongly that salvation was by faith alone.” Here’s the first reason:

This emphasis is needed to safeguard the glory of Christ as Saviour.

Faith is coming to Christ; faith means letting oneself fall into his open arms. Faith thus links a man to Christ, so that he becomes a man in Christ. And in Christ, because of all that Christ is and all that Christ did, believers have a perfect salvation. In the eighth chapter of the epistle to the Romans, Paul passes in review the blessings that belong to ‘those who are in Christ Jesus’ (v. 1). No condemnation, and no separation (vv. 1, 35ff.); sonship and heirship (vv. 14ff.); a sure hope of resurrection and glory (vv. 11, 23, 30); the strength and comfort of the Holy Spirit (vv. 15ff., 23, 26ff.); eternal security and assured triumph through God’s almighty love (vv. 28-39), Nobody can need more than is freely given in Christ, and faith, uniting us to Christ, makes it all ours. So, to deny the adequacy of faith alone for salvation is to deny that Christ is an adequate Saviour. And the way to highlight the absolute sufficiency of Christ is to emphasize the absolute sufficiency of faith. ‘What must I do to be saved?’ was the Philippian gaoler’s question. ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved,’ was the apostle Paul’s answer. For the honour of Christ, it needs to be stressed that this was, and still is, a complete answer to the question asked.

The first time I thought through the relationship between faith alone and Christ alone, I couldn’t stop thinking about how the two fit together perfectly. If you have one, the other comes along with it, and it can be no other way. And conversely, if you get rid of one, it’s bye-bye to the other, too.

Coming tomorrow: the second reason. Any guesses as to what it is?